Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #40 – A Lost Ring, a New TV System & Harry Potter Saturday

 

This has been a frustrating week!  I had written up all this week – up through Thursday only to find it didn’t save! I have searched every file in my computer and finally gave up!  So, this is the week as I can remember it…..

 

Sunday, September 29^th., 2024……  A quiet day. Cathye went off to church and I worked on the blog and watched races and football. Except for later when she came in and said she had lost her ring! 

After searching everywhere around the house and outside, we came to the conclusion that she had it when we went to the dance on Saturday. She remembers taking it off in the car to put hand lotion on. If it was on her lap, she might have lost it in the car. Nope. Or when she got out of the car. Or maybe when she was changing shoes to dance. Or maybe on the dance floor. She also remembers putting money in the offering jar at church this morning. She called Ted at the church to be on the lookout for it. She also contacted the person who collects the monies and she looked. Nope. A bummer of a day. But we headed off to our beginner’s class and pushed on. We got some new dancers both last week when we skipped and tonight. Hope they all stay with us!  We went out to Pizza Hut for the afterparty then went home and hit the spa before bed.

Monday, September 30^th., 2024…… The plan today was to go to the gym and then to breakfast. After we left our workouts, we drove to Corvallis for breakfast. But before that, we stopped by the church where we danced on Saturday night. We walked the parking lot. Nope. The church office was closed but I left a flyer in case they find it or someone turns it in. She also shared it on her own church’s Facebook page in case someone found it there. Tv and spa then bed.   

Tuesday, October 1^st., 2024…… Cathye had a meeting with Julie at her church this morning. I worked on the Directv boxes in preparation for tomorrow when they come to install the upgraded system. We have had these boxes for well over 12 years now and they are starting to give us some problems. These boxes are outdated and can’t be easily replaced so it was time to get the newest system. I went off to the workshop and took the box out of there to turn in. I went to Cat’s office and brought that box out to the shop. That will be the only one remaining from the old system and I will use it out there plus I can take it with us in the rv when we travel. The newer Genie system from Direct doesn’t allow for that. As I was working these, I am hoping the new system uses the same power cords because if not, we will have to move furniture in every room for the new plugs. With Cathye at her church, I took off to class.  I have the order form for the new badges and took orders. I got 10 this first go round. Cathye came by later and helped make a full square so we could dance. We left there and came home to rest.

Wednesday, October 2^nd., 2024…… I got a text message at 7:45am this morning from the Directv guy, who said he was 45 minutes out. So, we got up, showered and dressed. Cat walked the dogs and I waited for him. He got here and got going. Jose was very knowledgeable and was easy to work with. He made quick work on each of the rooms and, yes, they all had their own plugs! The only problem we had was his work order showed one more install than we needed, so it took some time for him to communicate with his office to get that right. While he was here, Cathye left to take Jamie to lunch. As she was coming back and he was leaving, the system went out, telling me we had one box not authorized! Crazy! I had his number from this morning so I was able to get him back and he went back to work on the phone and finally got everything worked out. We are good to go!  It will take some time to learn the new remotes but we’ll soon have shows taped. I spent some time working on my shows and Cat will need to do the same.     

Thursday, October 3^rd., 2024……  Cathye has a pulmonary breathing test this morning so I went with her for that. After we were done, we went to Kristi’s for breakfast and then stopped at Walmart to pick up stuff for chili for dinner on Saturday. Mary is in Seattle today, visiting her daughter Heather and grandchild Charleigh.  They will all be coming down tomorrow evening for our Saturday pumpkin carving and dinner with us and Corey’s family. Penny and Cherrelyn will be here too.

The weather is better today. Temps will be in the 70s, so I decided today’s the day to pour the epoxy on the bartop! I did a final sand and did a tacky cloth on it to remove the dust. 

The directions were pretty easy. You need to mix equal parts of the resin and catalyst and since I will be using all of one package, that was easy. Then you have to stir and stir for 5 minutes to mix all of it together. I spread it all in a row on the top and then Cat and I used rollers and foam brushes to spread it out all over the top and sides. It looked great. I did have to use a hair dryer on a few bubbles. It needs to sit 24 hours, then a steel wool scratch to prep for the final coat.

The problem was when we went out later in the day to check it out, we discovered patches as well as a ton of bubbles!  I ran my sander over one area and discovered that I will have to sand it all down back to bare wood and start over. Oh well, at least the sides look good and will be better with a second coat on them.  

Friday, October 4^th., 2024……  We worked on cleaning the house today. Heather and Mary and Charleigh plan on waiting until Charleigh’s glass blowing class is over at 9:30pm and will drive through the night. It’s about a five hour drive so we won’t see them until tomorrow morning. We got the guest room ready for Mary and the motorhome set up for the other two. I left lights on and the heater going in the rv because temps are getting into the 40s at night here now.  We watched some taped programs and hit the spa and then went to bed.

Saturday, October 5^th., 2024…… I was up to pee around 3:30am and had the dogs outside. Heather’s car was in the driveway and Mary’s door was closed so we knew they made it ok. Mary said later that Rylee didn’t make too much noise when she came in. She just whined with Mr. Quackers in her mouth and wanted petted. Jama was with us and never moved!  Later, when those of us in the house were up, we decided to go to Kristi’s for breakfast. Heater and Charleigh met us there and we had a nice meal. Today was Harry Potter Day as well as a vendor sidewalk sale down Main St. We were finished before they all set up, so we all came home. I stayed behind and the girls all took off.  Cat said later that they shopped

then met up with Corey, Vikki, Brandon, and Baylee and they had lunch at the Harry Potter restaurant.

I managed to catch up on my taped auctions. I wanted to start sanding but when I did, I found I need to get the belt sander out and that will have to wait. I already had all of the tables out.  I added my power tools in case they wanted to use them when they all carved the pumpkins. Once they all got here, the pumpkins got a makeover!  

Cathye had her chili on early and once the cornbread was done, we took a break and ate. Then it was tv and rest before everyone left. I went to bed before the others but they had the tv going and it was loud for me to sleep until Cat came in later. It was a nice day.